Mementos: Blades and Witches
Prelude “Ken-chan, this way, this way!” The Captain of the Eleventh Division of the Gotei 13 followed the whims of his rather unusual “guide” as the young girl lead him from one dead end to another, Zaraki Kenpachi’s patience was wearing dangerously thin and he could feel his blade quiver with bloodlust in his hands as he ran, almost as though it were a living thing. “Oi, Yachiru, are you sure of it this time?” Kenpachi’s voice was impatient but not hostile, course and insistent but not angry in spite of her faults. Truth be told, as terrible as her sense of direction was his was several orders of magnitude worse. Yachiru chirped back with a smile. “Absopositively, Ken-chan! I sensed someone strong from over...” the Lieutenant paused for a moment and looked around the area frantically before she giggled and pointed at a branching corridor. “From over there!” Zaraki grinned at the prospect of battle and charged onwards with natural speed that was almost comparable to Shunpo, propelled by nothing more than his raw leg strength and instincts, on the path he encountered a group of Numeros, they each drew their blades in turn but Zaraki had no time to waste on small fry and so he simply strode past them while they launched ineffective attacks against him, attacks which without exception failed to penetrate the raw mantle of hardened reiatsu that surrounded him even now with his eyepatch still on. Yet while most of them wisely kept their distance one grew bold and resumed his attacks against Zaraki, to the Captain’s great annoyance. “Piss off, I don’t have time for weaklings!” Without even bothering to use his sword, Zaraki simply backhanded the Arrancar out of his path with overwhelming force, causing the Numeros to be catapulted off of his feet and crashing through the opposite wall without even stopping as Yachiru giggled in delight. After the remaining Arrancar had either been summarily backhanded or driven off, Zaraki finally arrived at a massive tower in a remote part of Las Noches. Yachiru had told him that she’d sensed a powerful presence within and so the warrior stepped into the complex and boldly announced himself. “You would not believe the trouble I had to go through to get here! Make it up to me by giving me a fight worth the trip. Yachiru, find somewhere to get lost!” Zaraki wasted merely a moment waiting for her happy reply before he began to perform a succession of slashes with his sword, whether as a way to warm-up or simply to serve as an outlet for his impatience. It could be difficult to tell with Kenpachi. Within the tower that the 11th Division Captain was storming his way toward, there lay the scenery of ice and carnage; the aftermath of the battle between an Espada and an officer of the Gotei 13. It was difficult to ascertain what had transpired here, but the result was clear. The broken jar that contained the twin heads of Espada 9, Aaroniero Arruruerie, and the unconscious frozen body of the 13th Division's Kuchiki Rukia, both lay in the chilling still of this wintry scene. With naught but a soul to have served as witness to this battle, soon after arrived a stranger to the battle. This figure, tall and imposing, stood before the shattered remains of his comrade. His face was a marvel of stoicism yet his eyes pierced down at the body with desolation mixed with a contrasting ire of discontent. "Aaroniero Arruruerie... The last survivor among the original Espada. Your end is a tragic one, that is to be sure. But as I had expected... you left the job undone." the stranger proclaimed with an intense melancholy, his gaze looming over the unconscious Shinigami girl as he uttered his final words. "You should not be alive. You should be dead. And yet, the naivety of the Espada has failed to live up to their name. But rest easy, Aaroniero, for I shall rectify your carelessness." he continued, making his way toward the Shinigami as he proceeded to draw the katana from his sheath. Holding it over her head, as though he were executioner to her sinner, the man spoke thusly. "To be sure that your enemy has fallen, it is commonplace... to confirm this by ripping off their head." And yet he found himself stilling his swing, his neck craned only slightly, as though something had caught his attention. It was someone who was arriving, at a remarkably anxious pace. It was no Arrancar, and so, the stranger kept his gaze fixated upon the intruder's arrival, though his blade remained occupant at the hand of an executioner; ready to cleave Kuchiki Rukia in twain within the breadth of an instant. Kenpachi’s approach was heralded by the ringing of the bells entwined in his hair, at a glance they might be understood to be little more than strange accessories as opposed to their true function of enhancing the Captain’s enjoyment of combat. Hours was spent each day braiding them into his hair, all for the purpose of ensuring that no foe was ever caught unaware of his approach at the moment his expression was neutral although there was the slightest twinge when he saw the unconscious body of Rukia Kuchiki. Some Captains would have rushed to her defence immediately, but to Zaraki the main concern was not that Rukia was injured or moments from imminent death, no, far from the case. His premier concern at this time was how stupidly inconvenient she would be in the upcoming fight that he knew would take place in this room. Zaraki was not a man who enjoyed complications in anything, all he wanted was to fight with his life on the line against worthy opponents with no outside distractions or silly schemes of any sort. But this, this was a situation which warranted thinking. What a bore. Katana at the ready, the Captain suddenly leapt forwards with a velocity that saw him entirely vanish from sight and in the span of a single sprint he’d closed the distance between them in a feat of extraordinary leg strength. His arm reached out as he sought to grab Rukia, easily pull her free of her restraints and then hurl her across the room by the entrance. “Tsk. If you’re gonna die, then at least go do it somewhere you won’t be a nuisance!” The dark figure observed this action with repose, his gaze not once leaving the sight of this intruder. Before long, he spoke up to address him. "Who are you? An intruder?" the man spoke, direct yet composed. "Judging by your reiatsu, you are a Shinigami. Are you not a comrade of hers? Did you not come here to provide back-up? Is it wise to simply discard her like trash? She could truly die." he continued before briefly closing his eyes. With a soft internal sigh, a mere breath to reaffirm the situation, the dark-skinned figure once more cast his eyes on the intruder. "It matters not. If you have come here, I can only imagine it is to oppose Lord Aizen. I cannot allow this." he expressed, before stretching his sword arm out toward the Captain, tip of the blade aimed toward him, as he once more addressed him. "I am the Septima Espada, Zommari Rureaux. Identify yourself, intruder." Zaraki scratched his head in impatience as he spoke curtly. “Provide backup? Tch, I didn’ come here for any bothersome reason like that, I came to fight you to the death!" With those scant words, Kenpachi lunged forwards with a sudden cackle, his movement propelled by raw strength and yet he’d come upon Zommari in an instant with the faint ringing of bells as a warning to his chosen adversary. Awakened by the promise of battle his spiritual pressure issued forth from his body in waves of yellow light that caused the floor tiles to crack under their raw intensity! It was then that Kenpachi followed through with his first strike, a singular slash that bristled and exploded from the edge like a massive yellow arc that perfectly followed the trajectory of his blade as for a brief moment his spiritual energy resembled a massive fanged beast before it abruptly fluctuated and dimmed. Zaraki’s blade ploughed through the air in a display of uncanny ability, as the air around him convulsed and groaned in protest under the weight of his oppressive reiatsu. Nozarashi’s tip had but gently scratched the ground as it went for Zommari’s chest, yet that brief contact caused a large section of the floor directly to Kenpachi’s right to cave in and collapse onto the lower floor with an ear-deafening crash, and now that very blade curved upwards with a screeching sound, the full weight of Zaraki’s reiatsu sharpening his weapon and honing it to a razor’s edge even as the raw power behind it sought to cleave the Espada in twain. In the middle of the chaos, it suddenly dawned on Zaraki that in his bloodlust he’d forgotten to introduce himself and so he howled over the cacophony of his own attack. “Name’s Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the Eleventh Division! Show me a good fight, Espada!” That blade which moved like lightning and caused the air itself to shake akin to thunder reached its mark without hesitation. Zommari's torso was slain in half, a jagged gash running down from his left hip up through his right shoulder, as he began his tumble backwards. Blood splattered about madly, staining both some part of the Captain's haori, falling onto the floor beneath them like rain, and even dripping back onto Zommari's upper half. It was a truly horrid sight to observe. But for the Captain, given his tumultuous and battle-starved nature, his reaction was likely to be one of boredom; as if it just hit him how pathetically weak this adversary was. And for someone like Zaraki Kenpachi, one could say this was perhaps a fatal weakness. Whether this was true or not, this fight was not yet over. "You are quite the impetuous one, Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the Eleventh Division." A disembodied voice seemed to address the berserker, but in truth, it was Zommari himself who stood behind him; mid-movement. There were two Zommaris in this moment, one slain and one behind Zaraki. With the Espada taking his back, drawn sword in hand, he swung down hard in an attempt to wound the Captain however badly he might manage. Regardless of how the attack was received, the Espada already prepared to move back to garner distance, once more disappearing suddenly and reappearing a couple meters away. Returning a hand to his back hip and holding the blade with his right hand, Zommari's gaze centered on Zaraki as the 'other Zommari' finally started to fade away, along with the blood splatter that arose from its body. "Confused? You did not that it would be that easy, did you? Among the Espada, I am the fastest. A true master of the Sonído. Your sloppy footwork will never reach me, Zaraki Kenpachi." Zommari did not wait for a response. But rather, he took the initiative to move. Once more, shimmering forth as he disappeared and reemerged, appearing in front of Zaraki. However, another Zommari appeared by the Captain's left side. This one engaged in swinging his blade toward Zaraki with the intent of cutting him, but as it came close, it seemed as if the blade halted its progress. Within the period of time between the second Zommari appearing and the blade halting in midair, a third of him materialized onto Zaraki's right side, thrusting his blade forward with the intention of running him through.